Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
In Our Time13 Joulu 2018

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In a programme first broadcast in 2018, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the jewels of medieval English poetry. It was written c1400 by an unknown poet and then was left hidden in private collections until the C19th when it emerged. It tells the story of a giant green knight who disrupts Christmas at Camelot, daring Gawain to cut off his head with an axe if he can do the same to Gawain the following year. Much to the surprise of Arthur's court, who were kicking the green head around, the decapitated body reaches for his head and rides off, leaving Gawain to face his promise and his apparently inevitable death the following Christmas.

The illustration above is ©British Library Board Cotton MS Nero A.x, article 3, ff.94v95

With

Laura Ashe Professor of English Literature at Worcester College, University of Oxford

Ad Putter Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Bristol

And

Simon Armitage Poet and Professor of Poetry at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Jaksot(1078)

Solar Wind

Solar Wind

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the flow of particles from the outer region of the Sun which we observe in the Northern and Southern Lights, interacting with Earth's magnetosphere, and in comet tails ...

23 Tammi 202055min

The Siege of Paris 1870-71

The Siege of Paris 1870-71

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war and the social unrest that followed, as the French capital was cut off from the rest of the country and food was scarc...

16 Tammi 202052min

Catullus

Catullus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Catullus (c84-c54 BC) who wrote some of the most sublime poetry in the late Roman Republic, and some of the most obscene. He found a new way to write about love, in po...

9 Tammi 202052min

Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery in 1922 of Tutankhamun's 3000 year old tomb and its impact on the understanding of ancient Egypt, both academic and popular. The riches, such as the death...

26 Joulu 201953min

Auden

Auden

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and poetry of WH Auden (1907-1973) up to his departure from Europe for the USA in 1939. As well as his personal life, he addressed suffering and confusion, an...

19 Joulu 201953min

Coffee

Coffee

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history and social impact of coffee. From its origins in Ethiopia, coffea arabica spread through the Ottoman Empire before reaching Western Europe where, in the 1...

12 Joulu 201955min

Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss T.E. Lawrence (1888 – 1935), better known as Lawrence of Arabia, a topic drawn from over 1200 suggestions for our Listener Week 2019. Although Lawrence started as an a...

5 Joulu 201951min

Li Shizhen

Li Shizhen

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of Li Shizhen (1518-1593) whose compendium of natural medicines is celebrated in China as the most complete survey of natural remedies of its time. H...

28 Marras 201951min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
tsunami
totuus-vai-salaliitto
rss-ikiuni
konginkangas
rouva-diktaattori
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rss-peter-peter
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-iltanuotiolla
maailmanpuu
romani-podcast
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin